This week we created 3 more Fan Pages on Facebook to give Dog Adoption, Cat Adoption and Lost Pets a higher chance to be seen by our community of animal lovers and people who care about animal welfare.
Why Dog Adoption? I started to visit local L.A. shelters a couple months ago to help give more exposure to homeless dogs and cats. Through my work with PackPeople, I’ve met a lot of people who want to help spread the word about shelter animals by taking pictures of them, then uploading them on their Facebook pages or on those of different rescue groups and animal welfare organizations. The problem? Some of the rescue groups delete them from the wall, or don’t allow posts. Also, not everyone has a blog or a website or a twitter account, but still want to get involved and help.
This is why I always encourage people to post on packpeople.com’s Fan Page, I mean, we all share the same passion and want to help, right? My idea is to give everyone from everywhere the possibility to upload pictures and stories about a dog or a cat (or many dogs and many cats) on the Fan Page and to spread the word with social media tools. Please always write a short description (including the name of the shelter, dog ID number and, if possible, breed and age) or take a picture of the shelter’s intake information as well. Almost everyone (even my 6-year-old nephew) knows how to post on Facebook – A quick solution to make a lasting impact. If you visit the the Dog Adoption Fanpage please “Like” it – We need the “Likes” to reach more people:)
We’ve created the same Facebook Fanpage for cats called Cat Adoption and we’ve also created a Fan Page called @Lost_Pets along with a new Twitter account called @Lost_Pets. Why @Lost_Pets? I always twitter signs of lost dogs and cats, using different #tags as appropriate. It’s a great way to catch momentum and spread the word right away. Every week I find new posts on poles and intersections and I feel sorry for the pet and the owners – I try not to miss any with my smartphone. A short description of where I saw the sign and the area helps to find my tweet faster (or I hope so). @Lost_Pets is designed for every human who is able to use the camera in his/her smartphone and to tweet it or to post it on one of the walls.
And if you know how to use your camera but don’t have a twitter account, and have no idea how to post it on our walls? No problem, just send the picture to our e-mail address and we’ll take care of it. We’ll tweet it for you, and the great thing about social media and applications are that the accounts are combined — every tweet appears on the @Lost_Pets Facebook Page automatically. In our mission to help animals, we surf a lot on pet-related websites and we always find great new sources – we’ll also share tips and guidelines, links and websites about Lost – Found Pets.
Please, visit the Fan Pages – Dog Adoption – Cat Adoption – @Lost_Pets and check out our new Twitter account @Lost_Pets, please share your pictures of adoptable dogs and cats, rabbits and every kind of animal you want to help to get adopted, Like and Follow Us to create a community. The profile pictures on the fan pages will vary every week, please don’t get confused about that. At the end of 2012 we are going to use our collected pictures of lost dogs and cats to design a fantastic collage with your help. I’m sure it’s not a tough task to stop for a minute to take a picture of a lost pet… just think about how grateful the owner will be for helping him/her to find his beloved pet.
Social media is great! Technology is providing us with awesome tools we could and should use to share information, help others and make an impact.